Department of English

PhD and MFA Defenses

Mon, 12 May 2008 11:05:26 -0600

English Literature PhD and Creative Writing MFA defenses are taking place through May 23. PhD candidate Sara Berrey will defend her dissertation at 8:45 am May 14 in Lind 202, followed by PhD candidate Jean Jacobson 1 pm May 23 in Lind 207. MFA candidates defend their creative theses in Lind 207 as follows. May 12: Emily Bright at 1:30 pm. May 13: Phillip Fuller at 9 am; Karen Ahn at noon; and Andrew Luckham at 2:30 pm. May 14: Karen Stout at 10 am; Ann Linde at noon; and Nathan Slawson at 2:30 pm. May 15: Brett Gastineau at noon. May 16: Tara DaPra at 9 am; Jake Mohan at 2:30 pm. For more information, contact the Graduate Studies and Creative Writing Program offices.

Job Search Workshop

Tue, 06 May 2008 15:53:05 -0600

On May 15th at 4.30 p.m. in Lind 207A the department will hold a workshop on the job search process for students at all stages in their graduate career. Subjects include what the job search entails and how you might want to begin to prepare for this important process. Following the general workshop on the job search there will be a meeting for all students going on the job market this fall.

Cucullu Named Best Director of Graduate Studies

Tue, 06 May 2008 14:26:52 -0600

Lois Cucullu (English) and John Campbell (Psychology) share the "Best DGS" award for 2008. A special committee appointed by the dean of the Graduate School selects the recipients. Each receives a $1,000 honorarium and a plaque. There will be a reception to honor the award winners at a celebration on Wednesday, May 14, from 3 to 4:30 p.m. in the Upson Room of Walter Library.

New Issue of LUNA

Fri, 02 May 2008 09:12:22 -0600

A new volume of LUNA: a journal of poetry and translation has just been released. Edited by professor Ray Gonzalez and MFA alum Alex Lemon, the issue features the work of Robert Bly, Jaswinder Bolina, Juan Felipe Herrera, Major Jackson, George Kalamaras, Alessandra Lynch, Simone Muench, Joan Murray, Craig Morgan Teicher, translations of Luis Cernuda (by Ruben Quesada) and Nguyen Do (by Nguyen Do and Paul Hoover), and much more. Please visit LUNA for ordering information.

English Commencement Celebration

Thu, 01 May 2008 09:23:08 -0600

The annual Department of English end of the year Commencement Celebration takes place Friday, May 9, from 4:30-6:30 pm in Lind 207A. All graduating senior English majors, scholarship recipients, faculty, grad students, staff, and family members are invited to celebrate. There will be excellent food, a small ceremony, and plenty of socializing.

Siobhan Craig Wins Teaching Award

Thu, 01 May 2008 08:54:36 -0600

Assistant professor Siobhan Craig received the Ruth Christie Distinguished Teaching Award for English for 2008-10. The Ruth Christie prize is decided by undergraduate student voting.

NYU Professor Mary Poovey Wednesday

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 10:25:33 -0600

The last event of our successful spring series Impacts: Feminist Theory & British Literary Studies features New York University professor Mary Poovey addressing "Reflections of a Worried Feminist, Twenty Years On" Wednesday, April 30, at 7:30 pm in Lind Hall 150. Mary Poovey's field of interest is Victorian literature and culture. Her latest book is Genres of the Credit Economy: Mediating Value in Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century Britain (University of Chicago Press, 2008). Poovey's other books include A History of the Modern Fact: Problems of Knowledge in the Sciences of Wealth and Society (University of Chicago Press, 1998), Making a Social Body: British Cultural Formation, 1830-1864 (University of Chicago Press, 1995), and The Proper Lady and the Woman Writer (University of Chicago Press, 1984). Lecture followed by refreshments.

Fall 2008 Senior Seminars

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 13:17:27 -0600

EngL 3960W Senior Project Seminar: Jane Austen and George Eliot
Tuesday and Thursday, 10:10 AM - 12:05 PM
Professor Gordon Hirsch
Jane Austen and George Eliot (Marian Evans) are probably the outstanding women novelists of 19th-century England. Both writers investigate their society’s structures and customs, the role of women, and the psychology of individuals. In this seminar we will study three novels by each of these authors—most likely “Pride and Prejudice,” “Emma,” “Persuasion” by Jane Austen; and “The Mill on the Floss,” “Middlemarch,” and “Daniel Deronda” by George Eliot. We will also probably view parts of a film adaptation or two to examine how our age has adapted these texts. Assignments will consist of three short papers, plus a term paper or senior project (including a revision thereof). Students will assist other students by reading and commenting on one another’s papers. The course will be conducted in the style of a seminar: students will give short oral reports in class and class participation is a requirement. Because the six novels—particularly Eliot’s—are lengthy and challenging, students are advised to begin their reading before the semester starts.

EngL 3960W Senior Project Seminar: Punk Literature
Wednesday and Friday, 12:20 - 2:15 PM
Professor Maria Damon
Punk Literature looks at some early texts that could be considered punk (Rimbaud's A Season in Hell, for example) and then looks at key texts from both British and US punk scenes, including autobiographies, criticism, novels and poetry, such as Rotten: No Blacks, No Dogs, No Irish; Go Now; Skels; Please Kill Me; I Need More, etc.

ENGL 3960W Senior Project Seminar: Medieval Literature and Self Help
Monday and Wednesday, 10:10 AM - 12:05 PM
Professor Rebecca Krug
A great deal of literature from late medieval England is concerned with self improvement. In this course, we will read literary works including Chaucer’s Book of the Duchess, the anonymous dream vision called Pearl, and Margery Kempe’s spiritual autobiography in conjunction with pragmatic writing from the period that is specifically concerned with “self help.” Topics to be discussed in the seminar include the role the following played in the Middle Ages: sleep/dreams; use of lapidaries (books of gemstones and their powers); astrology; diet; herbal remedies, and various forms of prognostication (palmistry, number divination; interpretation of thunder). Students need not have taken a prior course about medieval literature (although this would be helpful) but will be expected to gain some familiarity with Middle English over the course of the semester.

EngL 3960W Senior Project Seminar: Hip Hop
Monday and Wednesday, 10:10 AM - 12:05 PM
Professor Geoffrey Sirc
This section of EngL 3960W will focus on Hip Hop, an exceptionally fruitful topic for academic inquiry in the way it offers a variety of research ‘portals’: not just the aesthetics of beats and rhymes, but issues of race, gender, sexuality, economics, marketing, fashion, violence, media representation, and a host of others. The goal is for students to work steadily through our common course readings, sources you find for your own research, and the course writing, to produce an interesting, scholarly solid paper, one that represents an exciting academic investigation into a compelling aspect of contemporary culture. We’ll average – between assigned reading and the readings you find on your own (specific to their research project) – about 100 pages a week. Figure around a semester total of 40 pages of prose (a mix of notes, draft, and finished text). Class time will consist of some lecture, mostly discussion.

EngW 3960W Writing Workshop for Majors: Poetry
Tuesday 1:25-3:55 PM
Professor Madelon Sprengnether
Creative writing workshop for Fall 2008. Comprehensive description to follow in course guide.

MFA / Dislocate Reading

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 09:18:47 -0600

The Department of English MFA / Dislocate Reading Series holds its final 2007-08 event Tuesday, April 29th at 7 pm in Lind Hall 150. Edelstein-Keller Professor in Creative Writing Charles Baxter will read, along with MFA candidates Matthew Burgess, Thomas Cook, and Emily Freeman.

Ivory Tower Launch Party

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 09:12:20 -0600

Help celebrate the 2008 issue of the Ivory Tower! You are invited to the launch party of the undergraduate art and literary magazine on Friday, April 25 from 7 to 9 pm in room 120 of the Elmer L. Andersen Library (located on the West Bank of the University of Minnesota). The evening will feature readings of several chosen submissions, live music, and the awarding of $100 for the winning entries in fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and art. A dessert reception will follow.

Professors Win Minnesota Book Awards

Mon, 14 Apr 2008 10:53:26 -0600

The 2008 Minnesota Book Awards were announced at a gala award ceremony Saturday, April 12th in St. Paul, hosted by Cathy Wurzer of Minnesota Public Radio. Edelstein-Keller Professor in Creative Writing Charles Baxter won the Award for General Nonfiction for The Art of Subtext: Beyond Plot (Graywolf Press), which the judges termed an "absolutely stellar explication of texts." Regents Professor Patricia Hampl won the Award for Memoir & Creative Nonfiction for The Florist’s Daughter (Harcourt), described by the judges as "eloquent, bittersweet and consistently well-written." In addition, 2006-07 Edelstein-Keller Minnesota Writer of Distinction Deborah Keenan won the Award for Poetry for Willow Room, Green Door (Milkweed Editions) and spring 2003 Edelstein-Keller Minnesota Writer of Distinction Wang Ping won the Award for Novel & Short Story for The Last Communist Virgin (Coffee House Press).

ArtWords Winners

Thu, 10 Apr 2008 14:38:34 -0600

Congratulations to MFA candidates Emily Freeman and Shantha Susman, who are first and second place prize winners (graduate student category) in this year's ArtWords contest. They will read their work at the ArtWords and ArtSounds Program and Reception 7 pm April 16 at the Weisman Museum. Come hear them read their work at the Weisman on April 16. This is the 10th anniversary of the ArtWords program, in which students write short poems, prose, and (now) musical compositions in response to work in the Weisman's galleries. Reception follows.

Andrew Scheil Wins Medieval Academy Prize

Thu, 10 Apr 2008 14:29:54 -0600

Department of English professor Andrew P. Scheil's book The Footsteps of Israel: Understanding Jews in Anglo-Saxon England (University of Michigan Press, 2004) was awarded the Medieval Academy of America’s 2008 John Nicholas Brown Prize for a first book in the medieval field judged to be of outstanding quality. The award was presented at the 83rd Annual Meeting of the Medieval Academy of America, Vancouver, B.C., April 3-5, 2008. The award citation read, in part: "Scheil adds considerable nuance to our understanding of the place (imaginary or otherwise) of Jews in Anglo-Saxon England. However, this study makes a contribution beyond the confines of the Anglo-Saxon period, addressing in detail the function and character of medieval exegesis, of the dialectics of religious thought, and of hermeneutics more generally." Professor Scheil has also received a Solmsen Fellowship for academic year 2008-2009 at the Institute for Research in the Humanities at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

Graduate Student Symposiums

Fri, 04 Apr 2008 13:14:14 -0600

The GSO and the Nineteenth-Century British Subfield Symposium takes place Saturday, April 5, from 8 am to 4 pm in Lind Hall 207A. Graduate students from our department and from the University of Wisconsin-Madison will present papers, including: Kate Hannah, "Threats to Masculine Roles, Male Poets, and the Production and Performance of Poetry in the Works of Alfred, Lord Tennyson"; Brenda Helt, "The Victorian Violet Soul: Homospirituality before 'Homosexuality'"; Heather McNeff, "Invitation and Anxiety in the Early Poetry of William Jones"; Sunyoung Ahn, "Liberty and its Use in J.S. Mill's 'On Liberty'"; and Sharin' Schroeder on Lewis Carroll. The Medieval & Early Modern Research Group holds its annual colloquium with guest speaker Katherine Zieman from the University of Notre Dame on Friday, April 11, starting at 11 am in Nolte 235. Graduate students and topics are: John Sievers, "Dryden's Battle with Music in King Arthur: The Bracegirdle Hurdle"; Christopher Flack, "'Mearcstapa': The Acculturation of the Liminal"; and Lindsay Craig, "Damned by Saints Praised: The Old Woman's Invocations in Le Roman de la Rose."

Nancy Armstrong to Speak April 9

Fri, 04 Apr 2008 13:03:31 -0600

Brown University professor Nancy Armstrong presents "Gender Must Be Defended" as the 45th Joseph Warren Beach Lecture in Literature 7:30 pm Wednesday, April 9, at the Weisman Museum. Professor Armstrong is visiting as part of the spring 2008 Department of English series Impacts: Feminist Theory and British Literary Studies. Professor Armstrong is the author of How Novels Think: British Fiction and the Limits of Individualism (Columbia University Press, 2005); Fiction in the Age of Photography: The Legacy of British Realism (Harvard University Press, 1999); and Desire and Domestic Fiction: A Political History of the Novel (Oxford University Press, 1987). Her fields of interest include 18th-and 19th-century British and American fiction, empire and sexuality, narrative theory, critical theory, and visual culture. Reception to follow.

Creative Writing Awards

Fri, 04 Apr 2008 12:33:21 -0600

Congratulations to the recipients of 2008 Gesell Awards in Fiction, Creative Nonfiction and Poetry, given to MFA candidates within the Creative Writing Program. Luke Pingel won for poetry, with Jim Novak as honorable mention. The co-recipients for creative nonfiction are Wilson Peden and Katie Leo, with Holly Vanderhaar as honorable mention. Ethan Rutherford won the fiction award, with Laura Owen as honorable mention. The judges were poet Eleanor Lerman, creative nonfiction writer Fenton Johnson, and fiction writer Jim Shepard.

Prospectives Visit

Thu, 13 Mar 2008 11:54:20 -0600

The Department of English welcomes prospective graduate students March 26-30. Events scheduled include a faculty roundtable, library visit, tour of the Twin Cities, and meeting with graduate students. We look forward to meeting you!

Two Marcella DeBourg Awards for $1000 each!

Sat, 01 Mar 2008 14:06:00 -0600

This year, we will be able to offer two undergraduate Marcella DeBourg awards at $1000 each. These are not scholarships. If a student has financial aid, the funds will be applied directly to their financial aid account.

The deadline for the DeBourg is Monday, March 24. You must be currently enrolled English undergraduates. The application is a cover letter concerning their interest/project (plus name, address, phone, email, student ID number) and a writing sample of 15-20 pages of prose or 6-8 pages poetry. Applicants should be interested in giving "creative expression to women's lives." This award is open to students of any gender. The prose can be creative or academic. The criteria is the quality of writing. Submissions should be brought to the Creative Writing Program Office, 222 Lind Hall, by the deadline date.

Suzan-Lori Parks to Speak March 26

Mon, 25 Feb 2008 14:02:04 -0600

The Esther Freier Endowment presents Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Suzan-Lori Parks, speaking 7:30 pm, Wednesday, March 26, at the Ted Mann Concert Hall--a free event and open to the public. No tickets necessary. Parks is the author of Topdog/Underdog, Venus, and In the Blood. The Framing Suzan-Lori Parks series, presented with the Department of Theatre, Frank Theatre, the Playwrights' Center, and McKnight Special Events, concludes Tuesday, April 1, with a discussion of Parks' place in the history of African American theater. Panelists include e. g. bailey, Pamela Fletcher, Josephine Lee, Alexs Pate, and Dominic Taylor (7:30 pm, Cowles Auditorium).

RESEARCH IN ENGLISH?

Wed, 13 Feb 2008 16:36:18 -0600

Tuesday, February 19
4:30-5:30pm
150 Lind Hall

Come find out about research opportunities in the English department! Work with distinguished faculty through UROP (Undergraduate Research Opportunities) or research women and minority writers through Voices from the Gap. Hear the latest on faculty research opportunities, and listen to undergraduates and professors talk about their past collaboration together. Oh yeah, did we mention REFRESHMENTS?

Minnesota Book Award Finalists

Wed, 30 Jan 2008 08:49:40 -0600

English faculty Charles Baxter and Patricia Hampl are finalists for 2008 Minnesota Book Awards: Baxter in the General Nonfiction category for The Art of Subtext: Beyond Plot (Graywolf), and Hampl in Memoir and Creative Nonfiction for The Florist's Daughter (Harcourt). Other finalists include Eireann Lorsung (MFA '06) for Music for Landing Planes By (Poetry), William Reichard (PhD '97) for This Brightness (Poetry), and Joni Tevis (Edelstein-Keller Discovery Fellow 2003-2005) for The Wet Collection (Memoir and Creative Nonfiction). Winners will be announced April 12, 2008.

Paula Rabinowitz Is CLA Dean's Medalist

Thu, 24 Jan 2008 09:30:54 -0600

English professor and chair Paula Rabinowitz will be honored February 13 as the 2008 CLA Dean's Medalist. Rabinowitz will present the address "Chairs: Frida's Hair/Vincent's Ears" at the program, which begins at 3 pm, in Cowles Auditorium. The CLA Dean's Medal was created by an anonymous donor to reward a faculty member's excellence in scholarship or creative activity. Rabinowitz is Samuel Russell Chair in the Humanities.

Carol Bly Memorial Service

Thu, 24 Jan 2008 09:03:45 -0600

Carol Bly, St. Paul essayist, fiction writer, teacher, and inspiration to many, died December 21 of cancer at age 77. Bly served as a Department of English Minnesota Writer of Distinction in 1998-1999: She taught Topics in Advanced Creative Writing: The Literary Essay, did a public reading at the Weisman Museum, and served as a thesis advisor. Among Bly's many celebrated books are: Beyond the Writers' Workshop: New Ways to Write Creative Nonfiction (Anchor Books), My Lord Bag of Rice: New and Collected Stories (Milkweed Editions), and Letters from the Country (University of Minnesota Press). Bly will be honored from 2 to 5 pm on Feb. 10 at Hamline University's Sundin Music Hall, 1536 Hewitt Ave., St. Paul. A program will begin at 3 pm.

Scholarships for Continuing English Majors

Mon, 21 Jan 2008 10:40:08 -0600

APPLY BY FEBRUARY 15, 2008.
Application forms are now available for the 2008-09 CLA Continuing Student Scholarships. There are nearly 20 types of scholarships offered through CLA with over 100 scholarships expected to be awarded. Scholarships range from $400 to $5,000 for the 2008-09 academic year. Some are specifically for English majors! Information about all CLA Continuing Student Scholarships can be found at http://scholarships.cla.umn.edu/continuing_students/. Warning: Careful Reading Required!

Applications and supporting materials must be submitted to the Undergraduate Programs office in 113 Johnston Hall no later than 4 p.m. on Feb. 15th, 2008.

PhD Candidates in Rain Taxi

Wed, 02 Jan 2008 11:09:50 -0600

Two graduate students are published in the Winter 2007-08 Rain Taxi Review of Books: Nick Hengen reviews Jean-Paul Sartre's Existentialism is a Humanism in the print edition, and Ryan Cox interviews legendary Canadian poet Steve McCaffery in the on-line issue.

New Websites for Literary Journals

Wed, 19 Dec 2007 09:41:22 -0600

Two of the Department of English's literary magazines have revamped their websites. Dislocate was founded as a new media journal of the arts in 2001 by students in the MFA program in Creative Writing. In 2004-05, Dislocate established itself as a print journal. . . . The Ivory Tower is the literary and art magazine created by undergraduates in a year-long English course. In various guises, the Ivory Tower has published University of Minnesota undergraduate art, photography, prose, and poetry since the 1950s. . . . In addition, new poetry reviews from our graduate students can be found on the Luna site. Luna: a Journal of Poetry and Translation is edited by professor Ray Gonzalez.

Congratulations to MFA Alumni

Wed, 19 Dec 2007 09:31:19 -0600

"from Hallelujah Blackout," by alum Alex Lemon, will be included in the 2008 edition of Best American Poetry, selected by Charles Wright. Alex's chapbook Abracadaver is in the most recent issue of Black Warrior Review. Another chapbook, At Last Unfolding Congo, was just released by horse less press. . . . Alums Michael Seward, Jay Orff, and Kate Hopper received 2008 Minnesota State Arts Board Grants. . . . Alums Laura Flynn, Rachel Moritz, and Charlie Conley received SASE Emerging Artist Fellowships for 2008. Alum Carla-Elaine Johnson was a finalist. . . . Alum Karen Rigby has a poem forthcoming in Black Warrior Review.

Spring Series: Feminist Theory & British Literary Studies

Wed, 12 Dec 2007 14:14:51 -0600

In 1980, the feminist subfield was initiated in the Department of English. To mark more than a quarter century of feminist achievements in literary research, we are hosting a spring semester inquiry into the place of feminist theory in British literary studies. IMPACTS: Feminist Theory and British Literary Studies will kick off March 5 with Rutgers professor Kate Flint (The Woman Reader, 1827-1914) and continue with Brown professor Nancy Armstrong (Desire and Domestic Fiction: A Political History of the Novel) on April 9 and NYU professor Mary Poovey (The Proper Lady and the Woman Writer) on April 30.

Congratulations to MFAs!

Tue, 11 Dec 2007 11:32:41 -0600

MFA candidate Dhana-Marie Branton (nonfiction) received an SASE Emerging Writer Fellowship and a Minnesota State Arts Board Grant for 2008. MFA candidates Emily August (poetry) and Emily Freeman (fiction) were finalists for the SASE fellowship. . . . MFA candidate Laura Owen (fiction) received a Minnesota State Arts Board Grant for 2008 and was also a finalist for the SASE fellowship. . . . MFA candidate Katie Leo-Keast received a Cultural Collaboration Grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board in collaboration with Stages Theatre Company in Hopkins. She has been commissioned to adapt the children's book Baseball Saved Us. The book is about Japanese internment camps, and the grant will enable Katie to travel to LA and conduct archival research at the National Japanese American Museum. . . . MFA alum Amanda Fields has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize for her short story "Boiler Room," featured in the Indiana Review.

Grant Funding Workshop

Tue, 11 Dec 2007 09:23:54 -0600

The Libraries, in collaboration with the Office of the Vice-President for Research, will present a workshop, "Grant Funding for Graduate Students," on February 20 (12:30-1:45 pm, Walter Library First Floor). Learn how to locate internal and external funding sources, search funding databases, and set up alerts for new funding opportunities. Registration required; for questions, contact Julie Kelly at jkelly@umn.edu.

Post-MLA Workshop Jan 10

Mon, 10 Dec 2007 14:18:35 -0600

In the next job search workshop, we will cover such topics as on-campus interviews, adjunct work, spring job listings, various forms of "damage control" for the job market, "what do I do now," etc. Please bring any questions you might have about this stage of the job search process, whether you expect to have on-campus interviews or not. Thursday, January 10, from 2-3 pm, 207A Lind Hall.

Hampl's Memoir a NYT Notable Book

Mon, 10 Dec 2007 07:41:43 -0600

Regent Professor Patricia Hampl's fifth memoir, The Florist's Daughter, was named a New York Times Notable Book of 2007 in the Sunday Book Review.

Madelon Sprengnether Reading

Thu, 06 Dec 2007 11:49:01 -0600

Professor Madelon Sprengnether will read from her poetry in the Carol Connolly S.A.S.E. Intermedia Arts reading series on Tuesday, December 18, 7:30 pm, University Club, 420 Summit Ave., St. Paul; 651-222-1751. Other writers in this holiday celebration reading include: Patricia Barone, Jill Breckenridge, Candy Clayton, Phebe Hanson, Freya Manfred, Cynthia French, and "Minnesota Rollergirl" Dottie Hazard.

MFA Reading(s)

Thu, 29 Nov 2007 15:35:14 -0600

Current MFA candidates Kevin O'Rourke (poetry), Jake Mohan (nonfiction), and Philip Fuller (fiction) will read Tuesday, December 4, at 7 pm, along with Creative Writing Program Director Julie Schumacher, who will unveil a new story. Lind 150, Taylor Library. . . . MFA alum Margie Newman reads with Sandra Benitez and Donna Trump in a Loft Mentor Series Reading 7 pm Friday, November 30, at Open Book (1011 Washington Ave. S., Mpls.). . . . MFA alum Eric Dregni presents a reading, quiz and slide show regarding his books Midwest Marvels and Weird Minnesota at Common Good Books (Selby & Western, St. Paul) at 7 pm, Saturday, December 1. . . . MFA alums Amanda Coplin and Susan Taylor read at the Happy Gnome (498 Selby Avenue, St. Paul) Tuesday, December 4 at 5 pm.

Paul Muldoon This Wednesday

Thu, 22 Nov 2007 08:34:09 -0600

Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Paul Muldoon will talk about "The Eternity of the Poem" this Wednesday November 28, at 7:30 pm, in Coffman Theater. Muldoon is most currently the author of the collection Horse Latitudes. In a recent interview, he states, "All my books are potboilers." The Esther Freier Endowed Lecture is free and open to the public and will be followed by a book-signing and reception.

Alumnus Brings New Orleans to Minneapolis

Tue, 13 Nov 2007 09:24:55 -0600

Last summer, Michael Tisserand (B.A. ’92) published Sugarcane Academy, about his family's experiences in the post-Katrina diaspora. On Sunday, November 25 at 7 pm, Magers & Quinn will host a reading and celebration with Tisserand, featuring the band The Southside Aces and a brief slideshow of the New Orleans photos of David Rae Morris (also a U of M grad). We recently interviewed Tisserand in our Alumni & Community website pages.

Faculty Roundtable on the Job Market

Tue, 06 Nov 2007 15:37:47 -0600

On Monday, November 12, 4-5:30 pm, the Department is hosting a faculty roundtable on the job market. Michelle Wright, Omise’eke Natasha Tinsley, Nabil Matar, and Maria Damon have generously agreed to provide an inside scoop on the state of the profession. This is a wonderful chance to hear their words of wisdom. Please come even if you're not on the market this year, and bring a friend. Refreshments! 207A Lind Hall.

Alumnus' Arts Journal Launches

Mon, 05 Nov 2007 16:54:17 -0600

Brooks Doherty (BA Honors magna cum laude 2005) is co-founder and managing editor of the new Twin Cities-based on-line arts journal Pike Magazine. Pike's stated mission is to bring to public notice those artists, writers, and musicians for whom "art swims in their marrow. They must create it. They must share it or fold." The November issue notably features six poems from Paul Muldoon, who will be our Esther Freier Endowed Lecturer on Wednesday, November 28, at 7:30 pm in Coffman Memorial Theater. Doherty also contributes to the lively Pike blog, which has name-checked professor Michael Dennis Browne, among other University of Minnesota references.

New Alumni Publications

Mon, 05 Nov 2007 16:16:03 -0600

Melinda Braun (BA 2006) has published Luella (Savage Press), a children's picture book about a young duck and the family dog she takes as her mother. . . . Leigh Herrick (BA 1988) publishes two of her poems in Cost of Freedom: The Anthology of Peace and Activism (Howling Dog Press).

eNow! presents Ch'ien, Winduo, and Lucast

Sun, 04 Nov 2007 09:17:55 -0600

The Department of English's eNow! series of faculty and graduate student presentations continues with a special program on language: English associate professor Evelyn Ch'ien addresses the question "Is English Getting Weirder?" with reference to novelist Juno Diaz, visiting professor Steven Winduo reads his poems in the Tokpisin Pidgin language, and Linguistics and Cognitive Science graduate student Ellen Lucast explores "What Do You Know? Theory of Mind in Communication." All welcome. Refreshments! Monday November 19, 2:30 pm, Lind Hall 207A.

Fantasy Matters Conference

Thu, 25 Oct 2007 18:00:37 -0600

English graduate students have organized a November 16-18 conference here about fantasy literature featuring keynote speakers Neil Gaiman, author of the Sandman series of graphic novels, and Jack Zipes, noted UM scholar of fairy tales and folklore. Other featured authors are Patrick Rothfuss, Pamela Dean, Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu, and many local fantasy writers including MFA alumna Haddayr Copley-Woods.

Undergraduate Student Organization

Wed, 24 Oct 2007 22:13:45 -0600

Put Down the Book and Talk to Someone!

FUSE, the Fellowship of Undergraduate Students of English, invites majors to meet each other in a variety of settings. The mission of FUSE, according to its founding members, is “to connect to the literary pulse of the Twin Cities and provide a dynamic student community for English majors at the University of Minnesota.”

Regular Activity:
*weekly English Study Nights, every Tuesday night, 6pm-9pm at Marrakesh Coffee in Dinkytown, to hash out ideas for the next paper, discuss recently-read books, or just hang out!

For more information on events, study nights, and other activities, students can contact: UMN.FUSE@gmail.com, check out the FUSE website, and “Put down the book and talk to someone!”

Professor's Oratorio Nears Sell-Out

Mon, 22 Oct 2007 15:29:10 -0600

The oratorio To Be Certain of the Dawn, by composer Stephen Paulus and Department of English professor Michael Dennis Browne, is nearly sold out for its single performance at Orchestra Hall on Tuesday, February 12, with the Minnesota Orchestra. The orchestra has announced tickets for the dress rehearsal, at 10 am that day. The Minnesota Orchestra debuted the oratorio two years ago at the Basilica of St. Mary and will be recording it for Bis Records after the February performance. Music director and conductor Osmo Vanska talks about the work.

Andrew Scheil Named McKnight Fellow

Thu, 18 Oct 2007 15:46:45 -0600

Congratulations to associate professor Andrew Scheil, who received a McKnight Presidential Fellowship. The Fellowship recognizes promising faculty who recently gained tenure and the rank of associate professor. The awards include three years of research support. Scheil is currently on sabbatical with a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship.

Hampl Celebrates New Memoir

Thu, 20 Sep 2007 21:44:27 -0600

Professor Patricia Hampl marked the publication of her fifth memoir The Florist's Daughter at the Fitzgerald Theater on October 7; the event will be broadcast on MPR. Also on the 7th, the New York Times ran a rave review describing The Florist's Daughter as "Hampl’s finest, most powerful book yet."

COST OF FREEDOM (Anthology, Howling Dog Press)

Tue, 18 Sep 2007 03:59:28 -0600

Leigh Herrick, English and French summa cum laude graduate, University of Minnesota, is published in COST OF FREEDOM: The Anthology of Peace & Activism in which she has two poems. Leigh Herrick is a multimedia artist. Discover her work on mnartists.org.

Off the Shelf—a New Book Club for Alumni

Wed, 22 Aug 2007 17:29:03 -0600

Off the Shelf: A Book Discussion Series with English@Minnesota invites alumni to join University of Minnesota English professors in good conversation about books. We will be reading works from visiting writers, department faculty, and playwrights who are being produced on local stages; the monthly series features books by Paul Muldoon, Patricia Hampl, Charles Baxter, and Shakespeare, among others. The play readings will include a field trip to the theatrical production. All discussions free (theater tickets purchased by individual). Advanced registration necessary: see schedule and registration information.

Michael Tisserand Featured in 5 Questions +

Tue, 21 Aug 2007 23:57:00 -0600

The Department of English announces a new website feature, 5 Questions +, in which we offer up the requisite number of queries to an alumnus or alumna of our B.A., M.A., or Ph.D. programs. Our first Q & A spotlights former New Orleans resident Michael Tisserand (B.A. 1992), who recalled some advice from English professor Michael Dennis Browne while writing his second book, Sugarcane Academy. The memoir follows Tisserand's family and friends in the post-Katrina diaspora, as they set up a one-room schoolhouse for their evacuated children. Read more.

Baxter's Movie Release

Tue, 21 Aug 2007 23:38:24 -0600

Edelstein-Keller visiting professor Charles Baxter has earned a mention in imdb.com: his 2000 novel Feast of Love has been made into a film which opened late September. In an interview with UMNnews, Baxter calls the Robert Benton-directed film starring Morgan Freeman " a reasonably good movie."

PhD Candidate to Thailand

Tue, 21 Aug 2007 21:49:36 -0600

PhD candidate Mitchell P. Ogden is a recipient of the Harold Leonard Memorial Fellowship in Film Study for 2007-8. As part of the fellowship, he is headed to Thailand at the end of September for three weeks with Hmong American filmmaker Moua Lee on Lee's film shoot there.

MFA Releases & Publications

Tue, 21 Aug 2007 21:22:13 -0600

Julie Gard (MFA 2000) has published her first book with Finishing Line Press: Obscura: The Daguerreotype Series, a collection of prose poems. . . . The documentary film Arid Lands by Josh Wallaert (MFA 2007) has just been released on DVD by Bullfrog Films. . . . Pudding House Press published the chapbook Glances Back by MFA candidate Emily Bright. . . . A long poem by Shana Youngdahl (MFA 2006) entitled Donner: A Passing has been accepted for publication as a chapbook with Finishing Line Press. Congratulations to all!

Tinsley Helps Create Dance Performance

Mon, 20 Aug 2007 16:33:20 -0600

Among the research and creative collaboration groups chosen by the Institute for Advanced Study for 2007-08 support was the Performance and Social Justice Collaborative, convened in part by English professor Omise'eke Natasha Tinsley. With choreographer Ananya Chatterjea, the group fashioned Pipaashaa, extreme thirst, an Ananya Dance Theatre performance debuting September 6-9 at the Southern Theater. Pipaashaa, extreme thirst, explores the impact of environmental degradation in the lives of communities of color across the divides of North and South.

Congratulations to Loft Mentorship Winners

Mon, 20 Aug 2007 16:24:59 -0600

MFA candidate Emily Freeman (fiction) and MFA alumna Margie Newman (nonfiction) have been selected for the 2007-2008 Loft Mentor Series. The Mentorships, presented by the Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis, offer advanced criticism and professional development opportunities to twelve writers a year. Three MFA alumni were finalists: Marge Barrett, Wendy Fernstrum, and Jennifer Johnson.

BA Alumni Publish

Tue, 14 Aug 2007 16:58:26 -0600

Danika Stegeman (BA 2005 summa cum laude) makes her publication debut with the poem "Here, 1,475' above the Ocean" in The Denver Quarterly (Vol. 41:4). Stegeman is currently an MFA candidate in Creative Writing at George Mason University. . . . Sam Kean (BA 2002 summa cum laude) wrote "Uncommon Reading," about common-reading programs for freshmen, for the September Writer's Chronicle. Kean also contributes to The Chronicle of Philanthropy and The Chronicle of Higher Education.

Charles Baxter Reading

Wed, 01 Aug 2007 16:58:17 -0600

Edelstein-Keller Visiting Professor Charles Baxter will discuss his new book The Art of Subtext: Beyond Plot (Graywolf Press) at Magers & Quinn Bookstore, Thursday, August 9, at 7:30 pm. The book inaugurates a Graywolf series on the "art of writing" which Baxter will edit.

English Student in Fringe Festival

Mon, 30 Jul 2007 17:49:11 -0600

English/Theater student Colin Waitt performs in Bards, a Fringe Festival comedy presented August 3 through August 12 by Four Humors Theater. Bards follows spies Christopher Marlowe and William Shakespeare on a dangerous mission for the Queen. Four Humors Theater was founded by University of Minnesota students. All involved with the production are either past or current students. All performances are at the Southern Theatre on the West Bank.

Alumnus Wins Davis Prize

Mon, 16 Jul 2007 15:25:22 -0600

Timothy Sweet (PhD 1988) was awarded the 2006 Richard Beale Davis Prize for his article "'What Concernment Hath America in These Things!' Local and Global in Samuel Sewall's Plum Island Passage." The Davis Prize honors the best article published in Early American Literature in a publishing year. Sweet is Professor and Associate Chair in the Department of English at West Virginia University.

Alumni Celebrate New Books

Mon, 16 Jul 2007 14:54:45 -0600

William Reichard (PhD 1997) reads from his latest poetry collection This Brightness (Mid-List Press) at 8 pm July 20 and 21 at Patrick's Cabaret. Reichard also joins Eireann Lorsung (MFA 2006) at BirchBark Books 7 pm July 26 for a reading. Lorsung's debut poetry collection music for landing planes by (Milkweed) was published this past spring.

SHARP Conference July 10-14

Mon, 09 Jul 2007 22:49:03 -0600

The Society for the History of Authorship, Reading, and Publishing, an international organization with more than a thousand members, meets on the UMTC campus July 10-14. The SHARP conference is offering a selection of public events which do not require registration, from a Thursday talk by novelist and BirchBark Books owner Louise Erdrich to a Saturday panel on "Publishing Here and Now." See details at right or the full list of open admission events.

Book Presentation & Reception

Mon, 02 Jul 2007 16:48:46 -0600

On Tuesday, July 10, Professor Thomas Augst will discuss Institutions of Reading: The Social Life of Libraries in the United States, an essay collection he co-edited which was just published by the University of Massachusetts Press. A reception and book signing will follow his talk; 3-5 pm at the central Minneapolis Public Library, 300 Nicollet Mall.

Damon Leads Reading Series

Wed, 27 Jun 2007 14:52:55 -0600

Professor Maria Damon will lead a discussion series entitled "Your Heart's Desire: Sex and Love in Jewish Literature" through July at the Highland Park Branch of the St. Paul Public Libraries. Damon, who won a 2006-07 Graduate and Professional Teaching Award, presents works by Philip Roth (July 3), Grace Paley (July 10), Shmuel Yosef Agnon (July 17), Abraham B. Yehoshua (July 24), and Rebecca Goldstein (July 31). To register contact Alayne Hopkins at (651) 366-6488 or alayne@thefriends.org.

MFA Alum Tours Libraries

Mon, 25 Jun 2007 15:54:29 -0600

Eric Dregni (MFA '07) will be reading and offering travel tips from his books Weird Minnesota and Midwest Marvels June 25 at the Brooklyn Park Library, June 27 at the Maple Grove Library, and July 9 at the Ridgedale Library, all at 7 pm. Interviewed by the Minnesota Daily about Weird Minnesota, Dregni noted, "We can't be proud of having the Colosseum or the Eiffel Tower, but we can be proud of a talking Paul Bunyan."

PRIDE Reading

Tue, 19 Jun 2007 15:38:35 -0600

MFA candidate Emily August and 2001 MFA alumnus Michael Seward are among the readers at "OUT @ the Library," a special PRIDE event featuring "some of the finest GLBT writers in the Twin Cities." The reading, presented by the Carol Connolly GLBT Reading Series and part of a continuing library exhibit, will take place 7 pm Wednesday, June 27 at the Minneapolis Central Library, 300 Nicollet Mall.

MFA Alum Reads—and Sings!

Tue, 19 Jun 2007 15:19:19 -0600

Laurie Lindeen (MFA ’04) celebrated the release of her debut memoir Petal Pusher: A Rock and Roll Cinderella Story June 16 at the Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul. Lindeen, whose book follows her from teen music fan to musician in the band Zuzu’s Petals, was interviewed by Current personality Mary Lucia. She also read from her book and performed with the reunited Zuzu’s Petals. Other musical guests included Lori Barbero (former Babe in Toyland), Mark Olson (former Jayhawk), and Paul Westerberg (former Replacement). The performance was aired on the Current (89.3 FM) Sunday June 24. Lindeen will read at the Edina Barnes & Noble July 10 at 7:30 pm.

Welcome George Shuffleton

Thu, 07 Jun 2007 18:17:41 -0600

Medievalist George Shuffleton visits the Department of English this fall semester from Carlton College, where he is assistant professor of English. Shuffleton will teach ENGL 8110-001 Popular Literature of Late Medieval England. He has a particular interest in Chaucer, Langland, and Gower, and his current research focuses on the relationship between miscellany manuscripts and Middle English poetry.

Reviews & Readings

Wed, 06 Jun 2007 14:47:26 -0600

On Sunday June 3, the Washington (D.C.) Times raved about Eireann Lorsung's poetry collection Music for Landing Planes By, out this spring on Milkweed Editions. Wrote critic Michael Brendan Dougherty: "The lyrical nature of her composition and the surprises that hang at the end of her verses make this assortment of delights eminently re-readable." Lorsung is a 2006 MFA. . . . Steve Healey (PhD candidate) will read his poetry at Minneapolis' Opposable Thumbs Bookstore June 8 at 7:30 pm. Also in Minneapolis, Haddayr Copley-Woods (MFA 2000) will read her fiction at Dreamhaven Books June 28 at 6:30 pm.

Call for Papers

Thu, 31 May 2007 21:22:57 -0600

The Fantasy Matters Conference, set for November 16-18 at the University of Minnesota, is looking for paper, panel, and author reading submissions by June 15. This conference takes the position that fantasy literature plays an important role not only in popular culture, but also in the realm of literature itself. Scholars of fantasy literature at any level (fan, undergraduate, graduate, or professional) are invited to submit abstract proposals of 250 words. Keynote speakers will be Neil Gaiman, author of the Sandman series of graphic novels, and University of Minnesota professor Jack Zipes, noted scholar of fairy tales and folklore. The Name of the Wind author Patrick Rothfuss will be a featured reader, among others.

Sherlock Holmes Mini-Con

Thu, 31 May 2007 20:54:18 -0600

The May session class ENGL3020 The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes presents student research projects on the final day of class, Thursday, June 7, from 10 am to noon. Instructor Kate Hannah's undergraduates have been investigating topics in the Sherlock Holmes Collection at Andersen Library. Among their featured findings: "The Women of the Sherlock Holmes Canon," "Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and His Reading Public," and "Sherlock Holmes and Forensic Science." Interested parties are welcome to attend. Room 120B, Andersen Library. Meanwhile the University of Minnesota Showboat Players present Sherlock's Last Case from June 15 to August 25; and the University co-sponsors the Sherlock Holmes convention Victorian Secrets and Edwardian Enigmas here July 6-8.

Rebecca Krug Recognized for Teaching

Thu, 24 May 2007 16:59:40 -0600

Associate professor Rebecca Krug has won the College of Liberal Arts Arthur "Red" Motley Exemplary Teaching Award for 2006-07. She joins six active English professors with this distinction. The award recognizes faculty "who inspire and care, who make themselves approachable, who show an interest in individual students' well-being and in programs for the benefit of students generally, who give of themselves generously in advising, counseling, and directing projects, and who create an active classroom atmosphere." Krug is a medievalist who this past year taught The Story of King Arthur and Women in the Middle Ages. Congratulations Professor Krug!

Welcome Steven Winduo

Wed, 23 May 2007 16:35:02 -0600

The Department of English is proud to host poet, scholar and teacher Steven Winduo in 2007-08. Winduo lectures in literature and language at the University of Papua New Guinea. He has published two poetry collections: Lomo'ha I am, in Spirit's Voice I Call (1991) and Hembemba: Rivers of the Forest (2000). Windou is the founding editor of Savanna Flames: A Papua New Guinea Journal of Literature, Language, and Culture. For fall, he will teach the undergraduate classes Analysis of the English Language and Literacy and American Cultural Diversity.

Ivory Tower Launch

Wed, 23 May 2007 16:04:35 -0600

The Department of English undergraduate literary magazine Ivory Tower launched its 2007 issue with two readings at semester's end. The first, on April 27, brought a packed house to the Weisman Art Museum. After student contributors read, the Ivory Tower editors took the stage to announce the winning entries in each category. Becky Lang's "Cocoa Season" won for fiction; Luci Kandler's "History of a Lake at Night" won for creative nonfiction; Erica Niemiec's "Convergences and Crossings" won for poetry; and Angie Myhre's "Believer" won for art. Congratulations to the staff and all contributors!

Film Studies at Minnesota

Tue, 22 May 2007 16:21:57 -0600

The Department of English regularly offers courses in film studies. A website set up this spring by Cultural Studies and Comparative Literature for the first time rounds up current classes in cinema studies across the University. The website also profiles faculty with major research interests in film, including English professors Siobhan Craig, John Mowitt, Paula Rabinowitz, and Jani Scandura. The site lists University film collaboratives as well as online resources. This fall's English course offerings in cinema: Craig's The Western, Charles Sugnet's Fiction, Film, & Video from Emerging Nations and African Cinema, Jack Zipes' Fairy Tale Films and the Brothers Grimm and Transformations of the Fairy Tale, and Screenwriting.

Welcome Nabil Matar

Mon, 14 May 2007 21:30:14 -0600

Professor Matar, hired under the Presidential Initiative on Arts and Humanities, will call the Department of English home starting next fall. Matar's research and writing focus on 16th- and 17th-century interactions between Europe, especially England, and the world of Islam. He will be teaching the English graduate level course Britain & Islamic Mediterranean: 1588-1713, which will trace the intellectual and historical contacts between early modern England and the Muslim Mediterranean through drama, travel literature, captivity accounts and theological polemic. Among his numerous publications are Britain and Barbary: 1589-1689 (University Press of Florida, 2005) and Turks, Moors, and Englishmen in the Age of Discovery (Columbia University Press, 1999). Matar received his PhD at the University of Cambridge. He was Professor of English at the Florida Institute of Technology.

Graduate Student Awards

Thu, 10 May 2007 20:29:31 -0600

Congratulations to Graduate Research Partnership Program awardees and their faculty mentors: Lauren Curtright (John Wright); Mitch Ogden (Jigna Desai); Ethan Rutherford (Julie Schumacher); and Lisa Trochmann (Paula Rabinowitz). . . . Graduate School Doctoral Dissertation Fellowships were granted to Becky Peterson, Stoyan Tchaprazov, Elizabeth Weixel, and Maria Zavialova. . . . This year's Charles Christensen Library Acquisition Prize went to Lindsay Craig and Lucia Pawlowski. . . . Congratulations also to Arlene Kim and Emily Bright, recipients of the Academy of American Poets' James Wright Prize for Poetry.

Undergraduate Awards

Tue, 08 May 2007 14:46:23 -0600

Two English majors were selected for the 2007-08 Selmer Birkelo Scholarships, which honor 14 high achieving students in the College of Liberal Arts: Libby Issendorf, who is double majoring in English and Journalism, and Amanda Steepleton. Congratulations also to our other 2007-08 English scholarship and award winners.

Schumacher Wins Minnesota Book Award

Mon, 07 May 2007 16:00:06 -0600

Professor Julie Schumacher won a Minnesota Book Award for her young adult novel The Book of One Hundred Truths (Delacorte). Awards were announced May 5 in St. Paul. Other Creative Writing professors who have been honored with a Minnesota Book Award include Michael Dennis Browne (twice), Ray Gonzalez, Patricia Hampl, and David Treuer.

Hampl Elected to Academy

Wed, 02 May 2007 15:03:09 -0600

Regents professor Patricia Hampl was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Hampl is one of only two new fellows elected for accomplishment in the writing of literature.

Academic Job Search Workshop

Wed, 02 May 2007 15:02:05 -0600

The workshop will interest all graduate students in literature programs who intend to pursue a career in academia. Broadly conceived, the workshop’s aim is two-fold: to outline the job search process and to suggest how students at all stages of graduate school can begin to prepare. Following the general workshop, there will be a meeting for all students entering the job market this fall. 2:30 pm, May 14, in Lind 207A.

MFA Alumna Awarded Fellowships

Tue, 01 May 2007 16:50:02 -0600

Poet and fiction writer Cheri Johnson (MFA 2005) was one of four Minnesotans granted $25,000 McKnight Artist Fellowships through the Loft Awards in Creative Prose. Novelist Jane Hamilton judged submissions for the 2007 fellowships. Johnson also has been awarded a seven-month fellowship (in fiction) to the Fine Arts Work Center at Provincetown for 2007-2008.

MFA Candidate Wins GLBTA Award

Tue, 01 May 2007 16:44:18 -0600

Emily August won a Steven J. Schochet GLBTA Studies Award for Excellence in Creativity and Scholarship, which is administered by the GLBTA Programs Office. August will be recognized at the Lavender Graduation Ceremony Thursday, May 3rd.

Brown and Scheil Win NEH Fellowships

Tue, 24 Apr 2007 14:47:25 -0600

Assistant professor Tony C. Brown and associate professor Andrew Scheil received National Endowment for the Humanities fellowships for the academic year 2007-08. They also both received supplemental College of Liberal Arts Research grants.

Graduate Placement

Wed, 18 Apr 2007 16:19:39 -0600

Congratulations to the following graduate students for securing tenure-track academic positions: Rachel Mordecai, University of Massachusetts, Amherst (Amherst, MA); Alex Mueller, SUNY-Plattsburgh (Plattsburgh, NY); Ariane Balizet, California Lutheran University (Thousand Oaks, CA); Karen Steigman, Otterbein College (Columbus, OH); and Marie-Therese Sulit, Mount Saint Mary College (Newburgh, NY). David Wehner, who has been a Post-Doctoral Associate at the Center for Teaching and Learning here at the U, has accepted a tenure-track position at Mount Saint Mary's University (Emmitsburg, Maryland). In addition, Robert Stark will be visiting assistant professor at Marquette University (Milwaukee, WI).

Shirley Garner Recognized for Leadership

Wed, 18 Apr 2007 16:18:51 -0600

Congratulations to Professor Shirley Garner upon being awarded the Mullen/Spector/Truax Women's Leadership Award for this year. Currently associate dean of the Graduate School, Professor Garner served from 1996 to 2000 as chair of the Department of English, which she joined in 1970.

Literary Journals Launch New Issues

Mon, 16 Apr 2007 17:07:58 -0600

Dislocate, the literary journal produced by English graduate students, releases its third issue with a party 7:30 pm Tuesday April 17 at the Ritz Theater, 345 13th Ave. NE, in Minneapolis. Local poets Jon Vick, Matt Rasmussen, and Portland writer Erin Ergenbright will read. The Ivory Tower, the undergraduate literary magazine and English course, hosts a launch party for their 2007 issue at 6 pm on April 27 at the Weisman Art Museum, Dolly Fiterman Riverview Gallery. Creative Writing chair and professor Julie Schumacher will speak, along with journal contributors and editors.

PhD Candidates Present & Publish

Mon, 16 Apr 2007 16:59:32 -0600

Kelly Hulander read her paper "'[Her] Kindness...Was Inexhaustible': Condescension and Entitlement vs. Cross-Class Friendship in British New Woman and Socialist Fiction" at the 2007 British Women Writers Conference, University of Kentucky in Lexington, this April. Chris Kamerbeek's article "Parks and Wreck: Anxiety and Amusement at Turn-of-the-Century Coney Island," will appear in the forthcoming Summer 2007 issue of Popular Culture Review. Gregg Murray presented: “‘(The Joking Voice, a Gesture I Love)’: Familiarizing Discourse in Elizabeth Bishop’s ‘Manuelzinho’” at the PCA/ACA Conference in Boston, Massachusetts, April 2007; “I Say No More and Walk Barefoot: Feet in Jean Genet’s Le Miracle de la rose” at the Graduate Symposium in Romance Languages at the University of Minnesota, March 2007; and “Historicizing Elizabeth Bishop’s Hierarchical Distance in Brazil” at the Red River Graduate Student Conference in Fargo, North Dakota, February 2007.

10th Anniversary of the MFA

Mon, 09 Apr 2007 17:13:06 -0600

This week the Creative Writing Program celebrates its 10th year of awarding the Masters of Fine Arts in creative writing. For information about this week's "Writers at Work" afternoon panels and the April 13 gala, see "Events".

MFA Candidate Screens Documentary

Mon, 09 Apr 2007 17:03:26 -0600

Josh Wallaert will be on hand for the Minnesota premiere of his film Arid Lands 7 pm Thursday April 12 at the Bell Auditorium. Arid Lands is a prize-winning documentary that focuses on land use around the Hanford nuclear site in southeastern Washington state. Wallaert, who co-directed, will discuss the film with University of Minnesota geographers Bruce Braun and George Henderson.

David Treuer Wins Guggenheim

Mon, 09 Apr 2007 16:58:40 -0600

Associate Professor of English David Treuer received a 2007 Guggenheim Fellowship for work on a non-fiction book about contemporary reservation (American Indian) life. This year Treuer also received a McKnight Presidential Fellow Award from the University and an NEH Fellowship to work on preserving the Ojibwe language. Last August he published the novel The Translation of Dr. Apelles and the collection of critical essays Native American Fiction: A User's Manual.

Charles Baxter Honored

Mon, 09 Apr 2007 16:50:38 -0600

The American Academy of Arts and Letters announced that Charles Baxter received the Award of Merit for the Short Story, which grants $10,000 and a medal to an outstanding short story writer. The academic year 2007-08 will be Baxter's third as Edelstein-Keller Visiting Professor in the Creative Writing Program of the Department of English; the novelist and short story writer is the author of The Feast of Love.

Damon Wins Teaching Recognition

Mon, 12 Mar 2007 16:32:15 -0600

Professor Maria Damon received the University of Minnesota Distinguished Teaching Award for Outstanding Postbaccalaureate, Graduate, and Professional Education for 2006-07. This award recognizes faculty members for excellence in instruction, instructional program development, intellectual distinction, advising and mentoring, and involvement of students in research, scholarship, and professional development. English professors Madelon Sprengnether, John Mowitt, Edward M. Griffin, and Tom Clayton are previous winners of this award.

Alumnus Writes on Dante's Teacher

Mon, 12 Mar 2007 16:02:14 -0600

Michael Kleine (PhD 1983) is publishing Searching For Latini (Parlor Press), a book about Brunetto Latini, the teacher of Dante. A composition scholar and a poet, Kleine "argues that Latini should be rescued from obscurity, not only because of the literary status of his student but also because of Latini’s promotion of Ciceronian rhetoric during the dawn of the Renaissance and the relevance of his work to contemporary teachers of writing." Kleine is a professor in the Department of Rhetoric and Writing at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.

Faculty News

Mon, 12 Mar 2007 15:56:44 -0600

Ellen Messer-Davidow was selected to be a Residential Fellow at the University of Minnesota Institute for Advanced Study for the fall of 2007. . . . Katherine Scheil will be a McKnight Summer Fellow for the summer of 2007. . . . Natasha Tinsley received funding for one year from the President's Faculty Multicultural Research Award for her proposal "Desiring the Blue Lagoon: Sea Crossings and Fluid Identities in Caribbean Literature."

MFA Candidate to Publish Chapbook

Mon, 05 Mar 2007 18:41:18 -0600

MFA candidate Emily Bright's first chapbook of poetry will be published by Pudding House Press in summer 2007. Bright plans to graduate in 2008.

MFA Alumna Sells Novel

Mon, 05 Mar 2007 18:38:12 -0600

Shaye Areheart Books, a division of Random House, will publish MFA alumna Amy Shearn's debut novel, How Far is the Ocean from Here? in summer 2008. Shearn received her MFA in 2005.

Louise Erdrich and Nuruddin Farah Return

Tue, 20 Feb 2007 17:43:50 -0600

The Department of English welcomes back to the University of Minnesota Somali novelist Nuruddin Farah, who was a visiting writer in 1988, and Minnesota writer Louise Erdrich, who delivered the Joseph Warren Beach Lecture in Literature here in 1996. Farah and Erdrich met recently at a conference and discovered they had much to discuss, a conversation they will continue with this unique dialogue and reading, 3:30 pm Sunday March 4 at Cowles Auditorium. Farah will be interviewed on National Public Radio's Morning Edition February 23.

MFA Alumni Nets NYT Review

Tue, 20 Feb 2007 17:07:37 -0600

Alumna Lauren Fox published her first novel Still Life With Husband on Knopf this month, and on February 16, the New York Times gave it a thumbs up. Reviewer Michiko Kakutani names Fox "a delightful new voice in American fiction," describes her as a blend of Lorrie Moore and Roz Chast, and continues: "Ms. Fox, who earned an M.F.A. from the University of Minnesota in 1998, has an uncanny ability to capture the absurdities of her heroine’s pastel-colored life in Milwaukee, and to map the darker emotional landscape she inhabits."

Professor Scheil Wins BSA Fellowship

Fri, 09 Feb 2007 15:35:44 -0600

Congratulations to Associate Professor Katherine Scheil upon being awarded a 2007 BSA (Bibliographical Society of America) Fellowship, "which supports bibliographical inquiry as well as research in the history of the book trades and in publishing history." As professor Scheil outlined in the February 2 ENow! program on archives, she is currently researching the history of reading Shakespeare, especially within women's reading groups in the 18th and 19th centuries.

MFA Candidate Scores Film Fest Award

Thu, 25 Jan 2007 17:05:34 -0600

MFA candidate Josh Wallaert and his co-director Grant Aaker received the "People's Choice" award for their documentary Arid Lands at the Wild and Scenic Environmental Film Festival in Nevada City, CA. The film looks at people who live near the Hanford nuclear site in southeastern Washington and follows the changes to the desert landscape brought about by nuclear industry, housing development, and irrigated agriculture. The documentary, which premiered at Wild and Scenic, has been invited to the Eckerd College Environmental Film Festival in St. Petersburg, FL, in February, and will be screening in April in the Bell Auditorium's "Science on Screen" series.

MFA Alum to Publish Memoir

Thu, 25 Jan 2007 16:46:44 -0600

Laura Flynn (MFA '06) will publish her memoir Swallow the Ocean with Counterpoint Books in early 2008. Flynn was featured in the summer 2006 issue of English at Minnesota as the first Scribe for Human Rights. While she held the Scribe Fellowship, Flynn worked with the Human Rights Program at the U to research and write a story about immigrants detained in Midwest jails on immigration charges. Her memoir, based on her MFA thesis, focuses on Flynn's experience growing up in San Francisco with a mother suffering mental illness.

Archibald Leyasmeyer and August Wilson

Mon, 22 Jan 2007 16:21:52 -0600

English Emeritus professor Archibald Leyasmeyer serves as a primary source for a new Minnesota History article about the late Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright August Wilson (Fences, The Piano Lesson) and his relationship with the Minneapolis Playwrights' Center. Leyasmeyer was board president when Wilson, who had moved to St. Paul from Pittsburgh, received a Jerome fellowship at the Playwrights' Center for 1980-81; in the article, Leyasmeyer recalls this choice as "one of the greatest decisions of my life." That year, Wilson wrote Ma Rainey's Black Bottom.

Professor Hosts Kenneth Anger

Wed, 17 Jan 2007 17:32:48 -0600

On January 26, English professor Siobhan Craig will moderate as pioneering American avant-garde filmmaker Kenneth Anger introduces and discusses his original films Fireworks, Rabbit’s Moon, Scorpio Rising, and Kustom Kar Kommandos. These are new 35mm blow-up restorations recently released by the UCLA Film and Television Archives. Professor Craig is currently teaching Anger in her undergraduate class The Split and Sutured Self, which focuses on subjectivity in literary, cinematic and theoretical texts from the 20th and 21st centuries. She and Anger will speak 7:30 pm at the Walker Art Center, in Minneapolis.

MFA Student Goes North

Wed, 10 Jan 2007 15:22:27 -0600

Erin Altemus, MFA '07, traveled to Northern Ontario last summer to meet members of First Nation communities and record their stories. As she writes in M, Altemus canoed the lakes and rivers of the boreal forest, visiting communities along the way. Her trip was made possible by a Judd Fellowship.

Tillie Olsen Remembered

Wed, 10 Jan 2007 14:44:34 -0600

Fiction writer, critic, and social activist Tillie Olsen died January 1, 2007. Olsen visited the Department of English to read from her short story collection Tell Me a Riddle. Another visit came in 1986 on the 100th anniversary of Emily Dickinson's death. Invited by Professor Toni McNaron, Olsen spoke to undergraduates at length about Dickinson. "She was fascinating because she had read the poems so carefully and knew them so intimately," remembers McNaron. "She also talked about the value and distinct privilege of having solitude, since matters of class were always front and center with Olsen." Olsen's 95th birthday would have been January 14th. Her family has requested that everyone touched by her work "gather with friends in their homes or libraries or bookstores and read her work aloud."

Egypt!

Sat, 06 Jan 2007 23:29:30 -0600

Cairo is wonderfully aggravating, with daily protests against the regime’s constitutional amendments, snarling traffic, frequent elevator malfunctions, vernal blossoms on the trees in Zamalek (the rest of the city doesn’t have trees), days both miraculously clear of pollution and others choked with it, Cairoians still wrapped in scarves and sweaters against the chimerical chill in the air, endlessly bemusing cab stories (our driver today had an air freshener advertising Viagra), afternoons lolling in the courtyard at American University–Cairo drinking in the sunlight as if we had just survived a Minnesota winter. On Thursday, I awaited the end of classes with more eagerness than usual, as a friend and I planned on riding horses at the pyramids to catch the sunset. . . . Laura S.

Japan!

Sat, 06 Jan 2007 23:28:42 -0600

I didn’t believe for a second that my dream of seeing how Japan in all its vastness and complexity measured up to my glowing, day-dreamed, book-fed image would ever happen. I still didn’t believe it as I boarded the plane and watched the video screen that marked our progress over Alaska and the restless Pacific thousands of feet below. Nor did I as I wound my way through customs and had a Visa error sorted out. Not until I was sitting on the bus (not at all like the buses of New York or San Francisco or Minneapolis or Iowa City) with the other bemused kids (I was a kid again) who had just come half a turn around the globe did I realize it had really happened. Through the English department, I had received the Donald V. Hawkins and Jessie M. Comstock scholarships as well as recommendations that paved the way to other scholarships—all so I could be the luckiest kid on that bus. Tim C.

Hello From England!

Sat, 06 Jan 2007 23:27:41 -0600

I have met some amazing people overseas and have been presented with travel opportunities I only dreamed of. I spent the Christmas season in Scandinavia with a friend I had met in England, allowing me to spend time in Copenhagen and Stockholm. I have also learned to travel alone, having been to Barcelona, Edinburgh and Glasgow within the past two months. I have scheduled trips to Berlin, Krakow, Prague, Vienna, Salzburg, and Dublin. I still want to visit the Netherlands and Italy if time and money allow. Suffice to say, travel is one of my passions along with writing. Studying abroad is the best thing I ever did for myself. Rachel K.

South Africa!

Sat, 06 Jan 2007 23:26:10 -0600

Studying in Durban, South Africa, I cherished the many opportunities to challenge myself as a student, a woman, a member of a family, a traveler, a friend and a world citizen. I was able to really integrate into the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Howard College Campus, and made many friends. During an independent study period, I researched the reading patterns of people in two communities in Durban. I surprised myself with the length and depth of my final project. Learning to research and use unfamiliar resources has been such an asset to my education, and I feel more and more confident in my abilities as a member of the greater academic community. I still struggle to realize that I am back in Minnesota permanently as I feel, strangely, that I am home for a visit and will return to Durban sometime soon. Anna K.

Italy!

Sat, 06 Jan 2007 23:24:23 -0600

All is well in Italy. Italian classes are going well, and I’m finding time to employ the language skills I am learning by cooking in a restaurant at night. Being surrounded by—and being a part of—a culture and community as unique as this one, as well as taking the time to reflect on my own culture in America, has taught me more than I could’ve imagined. More than anything, I’ve learned to appreciate the people: the butcher who I talk to in the market or the old women who sit in the park each afternoon. I am confident that upon my return to the United States, I will appreciate the people of my own community so much more. Mark A.

Spain!

Sat, 06 Jan 2007 23:20:24 -0600

Hola a todos! Spain is so amazing! It has been wonderful to learn more about the vibrant culture and people here, and I finally feel like my Spanish is sufficient! The family I live with has gone above-and-beyond to make me feel comfortable, and I can't imagine my time here without them. Teaching English at the elementary school has also been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. I feel so fortunate to get to explore such an amazing place, and I am thrilled that I now have friends here to come back and visit! Dana B.

Argentina!

Sat, 06 Jan 2007 23:18:37 -0600

Argentina is a fabulous country full of rich culture and diversity unknown to me before my arrival. In Buenos Aires, there is tango dancing in the streets and a leather shop around every corner, not to mention the mouth-watering smell of empanadas! Joya W.